Communication devices are being designed to transmit and receive in multiple frequency bands, also referred to herein as multiband operation, to take advantage of techniques such as transmit and receive diversity and carrier aggregation. However, the current design approaches for multiband operation have some shortcomings. For example, in one conventional radio architecture design approach, as the number of active frequency bands increases, the number of dedicated paths between a transceiver and antennas and, hence, the number of components needed for the radio to operate in multiple frequency bands, with or without carrier aggregation, quickly becomes impractical. An alternative cognitive design approach uses fewer dedicated paths and components but requires unreasonable levels of isolation and attenuation from the components.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of embodiments of the present invention.
The apparatus and method components have been represented where appropriate by conventional symbols in the drawings, showing only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments of the present invention so as not to obscure the disclosure with details that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the description herein.